


Not This Way

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Murder and Consequences [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 12:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7891900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason wanted the Joker dead. Always has, always will. Just…not this way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not This Way

**Author's Note:**

> I’d say Joker probably dared Damian to do it, and also said mean things about Bruce and Dick and got the kid’s rage up. He probably then ended it by saying something snide about Jason, and Damian just snapped. Bruce isn’t so much mad, but just as heartbroken as Dick and Jason are. It messes Damian up pretty bad. Jason and Damian probably stay away six months to a year, with Dick acting as a middle man between them and Gotham. This one’s a bit violent/darker than I normally write so. **Warning**.

The place was quiet. Dead quiet, and that should have been tip-off enough.

 _“Joker and his gang.”_ Dick had explained over the comms, as they both raced from different directions towards the eastside warehouses, which were busy almost twenty-four hours a day, either via the companies who owned them or the criminals who squatted there. _“I’m en route, but Robin’s gonna beat us there.”_

So Jason was in no rush. Let the twerp have some fun with the lowlife clown until they got there. He was the only one any of them were technically allowed to let loose on.

Dick said the gang was huge, so, _really_ , it shouldn’t have been this quiet. Not to mention, Damian liked to talk when he beat the living shit out of someone, but try as Jason might, as he walked slowly between the tall, blank buildings, he couldn’t pick up a punch or a voice, or even a grunt. Not from a Robin, not from a Joker, not even from this so-called giant gang.

It was when he turned a corner, and saw a warehouse garage door open, light streaming out onto the dusty pathway, that Jason realized something might not be right.

“’Wing.” Jason tapped his comm. “You and the rest come prepared. Shit went down here, and you know there’s always that problem of it getting worse when we all show up.”

“Will do.” Nightwing confirmed, then hummed. “Though no one’s gotten word from Robin. Is he there?”

“Don’t know yet.” Jason whispered, glancing over into an alleyway. Unconscious bodies littered it like fallen leaves. “I bet so, but I’ll call in when I find him for sure.”

“10-4.” Dick said. “We’ll be there in a few.”

Jason didn’t respond, just nodded silently, as he turned the comm. back off, and dropped into a defensive position as he walked closer towards that light.

When he reached the edge of it, after passing a hoard of more unconscious bodies – and _that’s_ where that huge gang went – he stopped, staring down at his boots as he slowly put his hand on the hilt of his gun, and switched off the safety.

He listened, for anything, and picked up on some breathing. Open-mouthed, slow, steady, calm. Just one person. If it was a friendly, it didn’t matter, if it was an enemy, at least he’d have the element of surprise.

So he leaned forward. Turned his head to glance inside. And, just as he suspected, one person. Just one.

It was Damian, and that wasn’t a surprise.

What _was_ a surprise, was that he was absolutely covered in blood.

Jason stepped forward, accidentally noisily, to get a better look. Blood was smeared across Damian’s cheeks, over his mask. It blanketed his hands, splashed across his cape, was dripping off the hem of his tunic. Running down his boots, and along the blade of his sword.

“Robin.” He called, and Damian heard him, he knew he did, but didn’t look up. Just kept staring into far, right side corner. At some boxes that seemed to have toppled in amongst each other. “Robin, are you alright?”

The sound of a drop of blood falling into the forming puddle was the loudest noise in the room. Damian blinked, but didn’t answer.

And even without it…Jason knew that he was. Physically, anyway. There were no holes in his uniform. No scratches or injuries near any of the blood. And he was standing as tall as he ever had, though maybe just a bit too rigid.

“Robin, what happened?” Jason asked cautiously, stepping forward. Defensively, like he had outside. A little nervous with that sword in the child’s hand. “Where’s this blood from?”

Damian blinked again, and slowly turned his head towards Jason. His face was blank, emotionless. Robotic, almost. There was even more blood on the side of his face Jason didn’t see before.

Damian’s voice was soft, and exhausted. “It’s done.”

“…Done?” Jason asked, moving forward a little quicker, because something was _not right._ “… _What’s_ done?”

“Everything.” And Damian’s eyes fluttered a little there, and he swayed slightly on his feet. “You won’t ever have to worry about, or _fear_ , him ever again.”

“Him…?” Jason asked, as he approached. Damian watched him the whole way, and didn’t shrug him off, when Jason gently put a hand on his shoulder. The blood was still wet, and immediately began to seep through his gloves. Damian continued to stare mindlessly up at him for a moment, before moving to look back into that corner.

“Him.” Damian confirmed, with a slight nod forward.

Jason followed his gaze, and felt himself gasp involuntarily.

More blood painted the walls of the corner, and some of the boxes toppled there. Flopped awkwardly against those boxes like he was thrown there was the Joker, his own purple suit almost completely showered in blood too, and the innards of his throat exposed as his head tilted impossibly to the side, only still connected to his body by a thin strip of flesh.

Jason released Damian’s shoulder and stepped forward in disbelief. He even removed his helmet and dropped it to the ground, as if it impeded his view of reality.

But no, no matter how close he got it, it was real. This wasn’t a dummy, and it wasn’t a trick put on by Batman’s youngest, at the behest of the laughing asshole.  The Joker was dead. Practically _beheaded_.

And Damian was the one who had done it.

Jason whirled back around then, staring in disbelief at this eleven-year-old who was just standing there. Not crying, or even celebrating. Just existing. _Barely_ that. Damian might not _even_ exist, in this moment.

“You…” Jason breathed, looking back to the body, the half smile still playing on that bastard’s lips. And yeah, this was still real. _This was still real_. He looked back to Damian – and god, that kid has never looked so small. “You killed him?”

Damian just watched him.

“Kid, you gotta tell me.” Jason almost demanded, but still tried to be gentle, as he walked back to Damian, and dropped to his knees in front of him. Took his arms again, and tried to ignore the blood seeping through his fingers. “You’ve got to tell me the truth, okay?”

Damian’s eyes were a thousand miles away, even as he looked into Jason’s. “I killed the Joker.” He said plainly, voice cracking all the way. “Father will never forgive me, but I killed the Joker.”

Jason still didn’t want to believe it. Still barely could.

“I killed the Joker so he could never hurt you again.” Damian continued softly, and Jason froze, mouth gaping. “Now you don’t have to be the Red Hood, Todd. Now you don’t have to be scared anymore.”

Jason’s heart dropped.

“You…” Jason could barely breathe. “You…you killed the Joker…for _me_?”

“And now Father won’t hate you, and you won’t hate Father, and you can come home. You can be happy with us again, and you can be _safe_ …” Damian’s misty gaze was starting to drift away, over Jason’s shoulder and back at the Joker’s body. Suddenly, he whispered, like an afterthought, “You can be safe…”

And Jason doesn’t know what happened. Doesn’t know if the Joker provoked the kid, or if he took it upon himself. Doesn’t know if he ever will truly _know_ , what all happened.

He just knew that he didn’t want it this way.

“Damian…”

“I fixed it.” Damian murmured, and suddenly his voice was shaking. Suddenly, tears were pouring out of his eyes, leaving streaks in the drying blood. “T-Todd, I fixed it…”

Just like after that shit with the Court of Owls, when he sacrificed himself for Dick.

Jason swallowed the lump in his throat.

Fuck this kid.

“Damian.” Jason cooed, as he felt Damian’s arms start to tremble, just slightly. “Damian, I’m going to need you to-”

“Hood!”

Jason froze, and Damian’s exhale sounded like a sob. Jason had forgotten everything, in the last few moments. What they were here to do, who else was coming.

Dick got here faster than he thought. Or…how long had he and Damian been standing here?

“Stay here.” Jason ordered, squeezing Damian’s arms once before rising and running out the door, and back into the street outside.

Dick was walking quickly, coming the same way Jason had. He was practically already at the doorway, and Jason jumped to the side, to block him from seeing inside, just for a second.

“Done already?” Dick asked casually. “Bummer, I was looking forward to a good fight with this guy.”

“I need you to stay calm.” Jason countered with immediately. Dick’s face steeled, his eyes sharpened as he looked around. “Dick, I need… _Damian needs_ your help, and I…I don’t know what to do.”

“What happened?” Dick demanded. “Where is he? Is he alright?”

“…In shock, I think.” Jason admitted. “Dick, you won’t believe what he did.”

“…What did he do?” And Dick shifted, obviously trying to slide by Jason and into the warehouse. Jason blocked his path again.

“Promise me you won’t hate him.” Jason begged first. “You don’t hate me for this, I know you don’t, so promise me you won’t hate him.”

Dick looked alarmed, as Jason backed up and gestured inside, even without a definitive answer. He hesitated for just a second, before rushing by his brother and into the warehouse.

And Jason only watched, as he slowly reentered himself, as Dick mimicked Jason’s own movements. As he approached Damian, found the body, and put the pieces together.

Dick stood between Damian and the body, staring at the Joker’s lifeless form, as Jason came up behind Damian, and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

“He told me he did it for me.” Jason muttered. Dick didn’t look back at them. “I didn’t ask him to. I didn’t even know until I got here.”

Dick didn’t respond. Damian didn’t say anything either, but Jason could feel the trembling starting to take root in his shoulders.

“He’ll hate me now.” Damian cried. “Father will hate me now, but he won’t hate you, Todd. He won’t, he’ll _love_ you again, so now-”

“We need to get him out of here.” Dick decided suddenly, spinning around and stomping towards them. “We need to get Damian out of here before Tim and Bruce show up. They were minutes behind me.”

“That’s…that’s it?” Jason asked. “You’re not…I don’t know, mad? Freaked out? Upset?”

“He’s a former assassin, remember?” Dick smiled, but it was sad. “And anyway – I don’t know if you know this, but Damian isn’t the only one who’s killed the Joker for you. Or tried, anyway.”

“What?” Jason asked dumbly. “Did… _you_ …?”

But Dick was already moving on, crouching in front of Damian, and gently trying to wipe some of the Joker’s blood off of his face.

“It’s okay.” He whispered, pushing Damian’s hair back, finding a clean spot of skin on his forehead and kissing it. “It’s okay, Damian. I’m.” Dick stopped, and his smile turned heartbreaking. “I’m _proud_ of you.”

He wasn’t. He was disappointed that the family let this happen. That they let their youngest, a child, take it upon himself to finally do this. To feel the need to finally do this.

“…Where?” Jason asked, and Dick looked up. “Where am I taking him? The manor, or…or your apartment, or…”

“Out of Gotham. Out of the country, if you have to.” Dick stood, keeping a hand curled around Damian’s free one. “Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Only tell me when I call. Not Babs, not Roy, not even Alfred. Just me. Both of you lie low until I can get to you.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I’ll…take care of things here.” Dick shrugged. “I’ll tell Bruce what happened – the _truth_ – and I’ll calm him down. Get him to a level where he won’t freak out on Damian and Damian won’t emotionally collapse at the sight of him.”

“And if you can’t do that?”

“Then…I’ll meet up with you and Damian wherever you guys are, and we’ll all start over.” Dick decided. “Because this is a mess _we_ made. Not Damian. He should have never had to do this. He should have never _thought_ he had to do this.” A pause. “But Bruce will come around. I’ll make him. No matter what any of you think, he loves Damian, just as much as the rest of us, and what Damian did here won’t stop that. Just. Just both of you get out of here, quick.”

Jason nodded, and gently scooped Damian up into his arms. There were still tears rolling down his face, and his breathing had become erratic, but he curled into Jason’s chest and let Dick take his sword without argument.

“My apartment isn’t far from here. Break in and take my car.” Dick continued. “I’ll wire you some money and call you in the morning.”

“Got it.” Jason nodded solemnly.

“Good.” Dick leaned down one more time, and kissed Damian’s forehead. Damian didn’t acknowledge it. Dick then slapped Jason’s arm. “Now get out of here.”

Dick spun him around and pushed him towards the door, and Jason continued with the momentum, walking as quickly as possible.

He stopped only once, and looked back. “Dick?” He called. Dick, who was already moving back to the Joker’s body, glanced over. “…Thank you.”

Dick blinked, and smiled. Sad, again. “Don’t thank me, Jay. Thank the kid in your arms.”

Jason nodded, and turned away, continuing on his and Damian’s escape path.

And he couldn’t help but sigh, as he glanced up at the bright moon, as he ducked around the corner, even as he heard Batman and Red Robin’s bikes enter the compound. As he ducked through the fence and took off running down the empty street. Because after all these years, all these fights and turmoil and anger, he realized-

“You’re welcome.” Damian sobbed mindlessly into his chest, without being prompted. “You’re welcome.”

-this wasn’t what he wanted at all.


End file.
